Well. Learning about this beer was quite the journey for me.
First of all, I learned that there’s a business just around the corner from Jervis Bay Brewing that makes seaweed-based kombucha; apparently that’s the way kombucha was originally made, but it’s a new concept to me.
But I don’t have much time to sit and be surprised by that, because I’m more struck by the novelty of JBBCo collaborating with this business – PhycoBucha – to put locally-farmed native Australian seaweed into a beer.
Perhaps the only unsurprising thing is that they went with gose as the base style, using the salt to tie the flavours together.
So, what is a seaweed and mango gose like? Like mango, mostly. It looks like mango (nectar), and it smells like mango (specifically, super ripe sticky mango flesh). And while the taste is tart and tangy rather than thick and sweet, it still tastes mango-ey. There’s a salinity mingled in with the light sourness, and a bit of somethin'-somethin' in there that may be umami… but this isn’t like drinking a glass of seaweed.
Which, if I’m being honest, I’m quite glad about.
Mick Wüst
PS PhycoBucha’s kombucha is also on tap at Jervis Bay Brewing as a non-alcoholic option. You can learn more about it here.
Published February 14, 2024 2024-02-14 00:00:00
